Saints' Sheldon Rankins ready to roll and 'play ball'

Sheldon Rankins has looked good early on in training camp, and is trying to get back to being disruptive and playing great football.

Sheldon Rankins is looking to put his unfortunate injury behind him from last season and return being a terror for the New Orleans Saints defense. It was revealed at the end of March by NewOrleans.Football's Nick Underhill that Rankins' Achilles injury that put him on injured reserve in December was due to Haglund's deformity, a bony enlargement on the back of the heel.

"It's like an extra bone growing off the heel and it was essentially slowly but surely pushing my Achilles off the insertion point," Rankins said on Saturday.

"So it wasn't a matter of if I was going to tear it, it was going to be a matter of when. That's just kind of how severe mine had gotten. So it really just became a point of do I fix it now and start the rehab or do I try to play on it, try to salvage what's left of the season and potentially tear it then have to go through a whole Achilles repair rehab again. So that's pretty much what it was. I do not think the other one contributed to it. I kind of have the same thing on that side, as well, the same deformity."

Rankins, who turned in just 10 total tackles and two sacks in his 10 games played in 2019, described his situation as 'just a matter of time' when he was going to fix it, and that it was traced back to his college days at Louisville. He said that any time he pushed off or did anything explosive, that it felt like it was going to tear. It was against the 49ers where things went south.

"I think early on, we were optimistic that we could treat it up and have me ready to play each week pretty much pain free, but that wasn't the way it worked out and then playing San Francisco, I just want to put my foot in the ground and just kind of felt something shoot up literally from that spot all the way up through my leg. My initial thought was I tore my Achilles. That was my initial thought. But, I went to put my foot in the ground again, I was like, 'Okay, it's not torn, but I can't keep doing this.' So that's pretty much (what happened). I went and saw the trainers, told them how much pain I was in and then in the coming weeks, we decided it was better off to go ahead and get it fixed and get back and be ready to roll for the season."

Rankins is ready, and has looked pretty good early on in training camp.

"I just want to be able to get back to my happy place essentially, being able to be disruptive and play great football," Rankins said.

That's the form the Saints defense wants and needs, as Rankins turned in a killer 2018 performance with 40 total tackles (26 solo), 12 tackles for loss, eight sacks, a pass defense, and extremely memorable forced fumble. In that season, Rankins was Pro Football Focus' 24th-highest graded interior defender, posting a 78.8 grade. Unfortunately, Rankins was lost during the playoff run after injuring his Achilles against the Eagles, but bounced back quickly.

The #Saints force the fumble and get the No. 1 seed in the NFC!#Steelers fans now turn into #Browns fans for their playoff hopes! https://t.co/f8Te6edOTY

— 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬 Canada 🇨🇦 (@sportingnewsca) December 24, 2018

Sean Payton knows that Rankins spent extensive time in rehab, and has nothing but high praise for the former first-rounder and what he brings to the table for the New Orleans defense.

"He's always been a real smart and instinctive player and the key is just getting his body back to football shape and his conditioning level and his strength. I think we've seen that and that's continuing to come still," Payton said on Saturday.

"I think he's a real good leverage player. He gives you good pass rush from (the) inside tackle position. I think he has good hips and movement skills. He is smart. When he's playing at full speed, he gives you an added rush threat from an inside position. And I think we've seen that and we've benefited from that two years ago when he was really having one of his best seasons. So I think that's something he excels at."

Despite the two Achilles injuries, Rankins feels like it's all behind him and is putting his best foot forward, and it looks like the worst is behind him after Dr. Robert Anderson patched him up, and is ready to do plenty of 'Sheldon Shimmies' in 2020.

"Listen, fingers crossed. I haven't done that much research into it, but all from what I've heard, it's handled, won't be issue again. Let's go play ball."